Belle Wong: writer, reader, creativity junkie

The Fireman, by Joe Hill

I actually read Joe Hill’s The Firemanlast summer, during a lovely readalong event hosted by Care and I was supposed to post my review back then as part of the readalong, but my time got hijacked by various vague (and many) stuffs (life has a tendency to do that), so when TLC Book Tours asked if I wanted to participate inHarperCollins‘ The Fireman book tour, I thought, “Yay! now I will remember to write and post my review.”

And actually, it’s probably a good thing I’ve let some time lapse between reading the book and posting the review, because frankly all I was good for after reading the book was saying “Look, just read it, okay?” over and over again, which does not a good review make.

So The Fireman is one of the handful of novels that put a good solid dent in my not-so-unwavering belief that I don’t really like dystopian novels. And this is most definitely dystopia we’re talking about, what with the Dragonscale spore that makes its victims spontaneously combust. As you can imagine, this has quite the effect on civilization as we know it, paving the way for lots of dystopian fun.

Joe Hill is a wonderful storyteller, and he has a great story to tell in The Fireman. I particularly liked the sunny, chipper Harper Grayson, and for me the story was enjoyable in part because she’s the main focus. (I definitely agree with many other readers that a more apt title for the book would have been The Nurse.)

The many pop culture references sprinkled throughout were also great fun–and for me specifically, because I am a diehard PL Travers fan, all the Mary Poppins references (Harper adores Mary Poppins). Nothing like plugging another novel during a review, but Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhereholds a special place in my heart because it is, essentially, Mary Poppins-land, all grown up–a fact which I think Harper would appreciate (see how I tied it back to The Fireman there?).

Bad guys abound, and it’s most definitely a world I wouldn’t want to inhabit (Cremation Squads? No thanks). And in the midst of all that story, Joe Hill also manages to tackle some weighty issues as well, and does so quite handily.

So yes, this is a massive tome, a virtual doorstopper of a read (my copy weighs in at around 750 pages), but that’s really the only thing brick-like about it. I had a ton of fun reading this book.

5 thoughts on “The Fireman, by Joe Hill”

Hill had his first Facebook live event a few weeks go and I was disappointed because he really didn’t answer the questions being asked. He was nervous, or appeared to be, and just sort of rambled on. I kept asking… three times, why the Nurse was the focus given the title of the book. He never answered. His style is different from his dad’s although I know they are compared a lot.

I had started this one for Care’s event, and that’s when my Big Fat Slump of 2016 started, so I really need to get back to it. I was enjoying it very much on audio. Great review! I’m seriously considered writing one that only says, “Look, just read it, okay?”

YAY! Hi there. Just checking in and then see that I’m in the post. Yikes! (my notice thingamajig that is supposed to tell me when another blogger references me is broken, I think) Glad you enjoyed the book and we did have a lot of fun with the readalong! Hope you are having a book-ful insightful-reading year.

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I'm a writer, avid reader, artist-at-heart & book indexer. I blog about writing, books, art, creativity, spirituality, & the power of the imagination. Oh, and I like to write stuff about life in general, too!

"If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." - Stephen King

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The purpose of being a serious writer is not to express oneself, and it is not to make something beautiful, though one might do those things anyway. Those things are beside the point. The purpose of being a serious writer is to keep people from despair. If you keep that in mind always, the wish to make something beautiful or smart looks slight and vain in comparison. If people read your work and, as a result, choose life, then you are doing your job.

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